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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 3 January 1931, Page 7

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WHEN ST. PAUL’S WAS LEADING MEDIUM “TAY ALIAS TEE” SIDELIGHTS ON LIFE IN 17TH CENTURY The first English newspapers appeared at the time of the Spanish Armada ; hut it was not until 1652 that they, became a vehicle for advertisements' (writes a special correspondent of the. “Morning Post”). Booksellers were the first to take advantage of this medium and the early advertisements found in the “Mercurius Politieus” were principally of religious publications. One of the first books to be thus advertised bore the appetising title “Gospel Marrow”; it was closely followed by another book called “A Few Sighs from Hell, or tlie Groans of a Damned Soul,” and in 1659 there appeared an advertisement for Milton’s work, “Considerations touching the likeliest means to remove Hirelings out of the Church.”

But already the use of newspaper advertising had spread to other trades. In 1658 the following advertisement had appeared in the “Mercurius Politieus” : “That Excellent and by all Pliysitians approved China Drink called by the Cliineans Telia, and by other nations Tay alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness Copliee-llouse This is the first advertisement for tea; hut from the mention'of doctors’ recoin; mendations, it is to he presumed that the beverage had been in use for some lime.

Gradually, as the power of newspapers increased, they became the accepted medium for every form of advertisement. St. Paul’s Cathedral had once been the clearing house for miscellaneous advertisements; and one of its ivalls, nicknamed “Si Quis,” because of tlie notices fixed to it which began with these words, had served the combined duties of registry office, information bureau, and stock exchange. But when St., Paul’s was burnt to the ground in the great Fire of London in 1666 advertisers transferred their patronage. to the newspapers. From the middle of the seventeenth century onwards, the advertisement columns of London’s newspapers provide the modern reader with continuous sidelights on the history of the times. In ■4663 a “Perrywigge-maker,” trying hard to keep pace with the eontemporary demand for flowing wigs, gave notice that: “Anyone having long flaxen hayr to sell may repayre to lnm, and ihey shall hare 10s the ounce, and for any other long fine hayr after the rate of 5s or 7s the ounce.” . . DRYDEN’S APPEAL London, however, had its unpleasant side, as is shown by an advertisement in the “London Gazette” for 1679, asking for information regarding an attack, on the poet Dryden, who had been “at night, barbarously assaulted and wounded in Rose Street, in Covent Garden, by divers men unknown.” 'About this time appear the first advertisements of the trade in blackamoors, which developed to slicli propdrt.vns that by the middle of the eighleenth century “a well-made,', goodtempered black-bov” was habitually of(ered for sale in the same lot as.chestnut geldings, barrels of brandy,! and other goods and chattels. ' In the seventeenth century the advertisement columns of the Press were fiequently used by Royalty; and m the “Public Intelligencer” of 1664, Charles 11. announced that .lie would he “at home” throughout the month of May for the bestowal of the Royal Toucji on those of his subjects as were suffering from the King’s Evil. Tn the same year we have evidence of the popular love for the strange and the marvellous in nn announcement that: “At the Mitre, near the west end of St. Paul’s, is,to he seen- a rare Collection of Curiosityes ...among which a choyce Egyptian Mummy, with Hieroglypliicks, the AntBearo of Brasil, a Remora, a Torpedo,

tho Huge Thigh-bone of a giant, a Moon-fish, a Tropic Bird, etc. .

THE SNEAK-GUEST

The early years of the eighteenth century saw tiic first- theatre iadveitisemenls, and (lie rise of the “Tatlcr,” the “Spectator” and the “Guardian.’’ Much space was given in these papers to advertisement matter; and it is possible from these to gain some notion of the craze for lotteries which at this time swept England. Every conceivable! article Was lotleried; and the advertisements included “A Sixpenny Sale of Lace,” “A Penny Adventure for a Great Pie,” and ‘‘Threepenny Sales of Houses ” ;; ■[: . An announcement in the “Tatler” for Bth May, 1709, reveals for the first time the existence of that, most, soughtafter and most* shunned individual, the “sneak-guest”: “Any ladies who have any particular stories of their acquaintance, which they are wiihng privately to make public, may send ’em by the post- to Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. . . . The present age may be shameless in certain respects; hut it is difficult to imagine Mr Bickerstaff’s advertisements finding publication in any twentieth?! century newspaper. \ : \■■ ft

_ D(YyOU~WANT FURTHER PROOF? SANDER’S EUCOLYPTI EXTRACT has been awarded First Award and Gold Medal New Zealand an S.S. Exhibition, Dunedin, 1926, Award and Medal, International Exhibition. Amsterdam, and was proved pest at the Supreme Court of Vic toria. A trial will couvince you that it is unrivalleo